Judge Dismisses $5 Million Lawsuit Against Anuel AA for AIDS Slur

When Anuel AA started up his beef with Cosculluela, he ignited more than a feud—he caught himself a lawsuit, too.

In a 2018 diss track against his fellow urbano artist, the 27-year-old trapero dropped some derogatory language referring to former model Noris Díaz, a.k.a. La Taína. “Te va a dar sida como a la puerca de Taína,” he rapped, making a homophobic suggestion that Cosculluela would contract AIDS like La Taína. Díaz, who has lived with HIV—not AIDS—for years, conferred with her lawyers to file a federal lawsuit against Anuel AA for defamation and invasion of privacy. She sued for $5 million in emotional and character damages.

Yet it looks like Anuel isn’t paying out the $5 million settlement, after all. The federal judge presiding over the case decided that Anuel’s language—which he has since apologized for in a YouTube video—is covered under “free speech” and does not merit a charge for the alleged emotional and mental damage caused to Díaz.

According to El Nuevo Día, the federal judge, Raúl Arias, claimed that there was a lack of “real malice” in Anuel’s artistic expression. He also stressed that this case of “rhetorical hyperbole” was protected under the United States Constitution’s First Amendment.

Given that the song, “Intocable,” also does not refer to Díaz as a common citizen, but rather as the public figure “La Taína,” Anuel and his representation contended it could not be considered an invasion of privacy. Judge Arias ruled in agreement.

Díaz, nonetheless, has spoken to Telemundo in the past about how painful this situation has been for her. “It’s still difficult for me. In the midst of this, there is pain and frustration,” she shared. “People with HIV know what we’re going through.”

Clearly Anuel understands as much, yet was not willing to pay the price. In his 2018 apology, he explained, “It is the worst mistake of my career. I do not need this and I apologize to all the people I offended. To homosexuals, to people with AIDS, to La Taína and to those who lost everything after Hurricane Maria… My fans deserve for me to be a better person, and I apologize to everyone in Puerto Rico.”